Grad Hosted Speaker events - January 26 & 27!

Hello grads!

It's that time again: the annual Grad-Hosted Speaker event is upon us! Mark January 26 and 27 on your calendars, because these days are going to be action-packed.

Thursday, January 26: We welcome our 2012 speaker, Dr. Daniel Pauly! Dr. Pauly will, of course, be delivering the departmental seminar at 3:30, but there will also be opportunities to meet with him earlier in the day. If you are interested in meeting with Dr. Pauly, either individually or as a group, please email Nicole Gerbrandt (nicole_gerbrandt@sfu.ca) to book a time. There will be half-hour slots throughout the day, as well as an hour-long meeting session over lunch. Slots are limited, so get in touch soon! See below for Dr. Pauly's mini-bio.

Friday, January 27: The third annual Biology Graduate Research Olympiad! Each lab in the biology department is invited to present a three-minute talk that sums up who you are, what you do, and why you do it. The talk can include any and all members of the lab, and multimedia presentations are welcome (and encouraged!). There will be excellent prizes for the top three talks, and some sweet door prizes as well. Most importantly, though, you'll be judged by our esteemed visitor, Dr. Daniel Pauly! He'll be joined by some familiar faces from the department who are ALWAYS willing to consider a bribe...this event will be followed by a social [at the highland pub], where you can enjoy some caucus-funded drinks and snacks.

So, the take-home messages:

- E-mail Nicole (nicole_gerbrandt@sfu.ca) if you'd like to meet with Daniel Pauly on Jan. 26
- E-mail me if your lab would like to present a three-minute talk at the Olympiad on Jan. 27

See you all there!

----------------------
Dr. Daniel Pauly is a Professor at the UBC Fisheries Centre and Zoology Department and the Principal Investigator of the Sea Around Us Project. The project aims to study the impact of fisheries on marine ecosystems on a global scale, and to develop fisheries management solutions. Dr. Pauly has published over 500 scientific papers, numerous reports and books on fisheries management and ecosystem modelling. Many of the ideas, methods and software that he has (co- )developed are used worldwide. These include the online database, www.fishbase.org , containing information of 32000 fish species, and the Ecopath modelling approach and software at www.ecopath.org . He is often profiled in journals or media, and is described by those that work with him as "unendingly energetic, bursting with ideas, demanding and intensely interactive." His efforts have been recognized with countless awards, including four honorary doctorates and being elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (Academy of Science) in 2003.http://www.fisheries.ubc.ca/members/dpauly/

-- 
Jeanette Bruce, BISC graduate caucus chair
MSc. candidate

Grad student meeting agenda - Wed, Sept. 21st.

Hi grads!

Just a reminder about our upcoming grad student meeting next week (Wednesday, September 21), from 3:30 to 4:30 in the grad student lounge. Jeanette will be leaving on her quest for salmon spawning this coming weekend and has passed the torch down to me, her vice-chair. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill, but I'll do my best and I'm looking forward to meeting everyone for riveting discourse on such topics as:

- An update on the grad-hosted speaker
- Our by-election vote (remember, you must attend to vote!)
- A potential mid-fall social event (bring some ideas to the table!)

As always, all are welcome and encouraged to attend.

See you all next week,

Natascia Tamburello
MSc Candidate

Special caucus meeting for reimbursements, April 28 12:00 7000 level grad lounge

Hi grads

Tomorrow at noon we will have a special caucus meeting to authorize expenses for the upcoming publishing workshop.  Location: 7000 level grad lounge.

Agenda:

- Approve $255 from GSS grant to spend at Club Ilia
- Approve up to $150 from core funds to spend at Club Ilia
- Approve $73.92 from core funds for Rowan Trebilco for gifts for speakers

We just need quorum to hold the meeting - so drop by for 5 minutes around lunch time and we can git 'er done.

Brett

Publishing Demystified Workshop Part II -- May 4th

Dear grads,

The Biology Grad Caucus is hosting its second "Publishing Demystified"workshop on Wednesday, May 4th,  3:30-5 pm in the IRMACS theatre. We had great turn out for the first of this series in November. This time, six faculty members have agreed will share their advice and insights on how to successfully publish peer-reviewed papers with us.

We've selected three topics, with two faculty speaking on each:

1. Why publish and how to choose where to publish (Michael Silverman & Jon Moore)
2.  Framing your paper: titles, abstracts and cover letters (Margo Moore & Bernie Roitberg)
3. Responding to reviews (Isabelle Côté & Ron Ydenberg)

We'll have ~20mins for each topic, followed by a brief question and answer period. The Caucus is hosting a reception (i.e. free food & drink) after the workshop at Club Ilia  for the participants and speakers, where there will be additional time to pick our speakers' brains.

Event details and schedule:

Event: Publishing Demystified Workshop 2
Date:  Weds, May 4th
Time: 3:30-5pm, social to follow at Club Ilia
Location: IRMACS theatre

We look forward to seeing you all there!

Grad Caucus planning committee

April 20 biology grad student meeting, 7000 level grad lounge 3:30 to 4:30 (and vote for grad hosted speaker)

Dear grads

We're having a biology grad student meeting on Wednesday April 20, 3:30 to 4:30 in the 7000 level grad lounge.  In this meeting we will be voting in our new caucus executives who will lead the department in 2011-2012.  We will also be narrowing down what we will be spending our trust fund on (see the attached agenda for the ideas submitted to date).

Also, I haven't received a lot of votes yet for the grad hosted speaker.  We have received many awesome nominations for next year's speaker, so pick one.

Everyone gets one vote - just email me the person you want to vote for from the attached list.  You have until next Tuesday (April 19) to send me your vote!

Thanks
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brett Favaro, caucus chair

Nominate a 2012 grad hosted speaker and other items

Hi grads

Just a reminder about three items:

1.  Who do you want to see as our 2012 grad hosted speaker?  We are taking nominations for this now.  I will close nominations on April 8 (that's Friday!) so we can have the results in time for the April 20 meeting.  I've received a few nominations to date, some of which are very outside-the-box.  Remember we have a full year to plan this, so aim as high as you'd like.

2.  Nominate yourself or someone else for a caucus executive position.  I sent out an email a few days ago explaining all the positions.  We have had only three people nominate themselves for a position.  All the events you know and love (grad hosted speaker, grad symposium, publishing workshops, and more) happen because of the efforts of the caucus executive.  In addition, without caucus executives, there will be no one to advocate on behalf of student issues.

Nominations are open until April 12 (That's Tuesday!).  These things look great on your CV!

We are currently lacking any nominations for a lot of positions, even critically important ones.

3.  We still have $3000 to spend on grad students.  I've received some great ideas from people about what to spend it on.  We're going to vote on it at the April 20 meeting so send me your ideas on what we should spend $3000 on!

Thanks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brett Favaro, caucus chair

Caucus reminders: Nominate a 2012 grad hosted speaker and other items

Hi grads

Some caucus reminders:

1.  Nominate yourself or someone else for a caucus executive position.  I sent out an email a few days ago explaining all the positions.  We have had only three people nominate themselves for a position.  All the events you know and love (grad hosted speaker, grad symposium, publishing workshops, and more) happen because of the efforts of the caucus executive.  In addition, without caucus executives, there will be no one to advocate on behalf of student issues.

Nominations are open until April 12.  These things look great on your CV!

2.  We still have $3000 to spend on grad students.  I've received some great ideas from people about what to spend it on.  We're going to vote on it at the April 20 meeting so send me your ideas on what we should spend $3000 on!

3.  Who do you want to see as our 2012 grad hosted speaker?  We are taking nominations for this now.  I will close nominations on April 8 so we can have the results in time for the April 20 meeting.  I've only had one nomination sent to me so far.

Thanks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brett Favaro, caucus chair

So you want to be a caucus executive: What is there to do?

Hi grads

We need people to take on executive positions in the biology graduate caucus for 2011-2012.  This email will describe what the positions are, how you can get involved, and why you should get involved.

These are jobs that have one to two year terms that put you in a position of responsibility in our student government.  2010-2011 was a great year for the caucus - we hosted many events, the events were very relevant, and we acted on a wide range of advocacy issues particularly with regards to scholarships.  Let's build a team that can make the 2011-2012 year even better.

There are descriptions available for each position in the caucus constitution (ttp://www.sfu.ca/biology/grad_caucus/Business/constitution.html) but I wanted to give a "plain English" version to make it less technical.  For all positions, the executive currently holding the position can help you get up and running when the positions start on May 1.  

For most positions, it's okay if you are going to be in the field for part of the year.  If you have specific questions about this feel free to email me.

Advantages to taking on a caucus position:

- Great for your CV, particularly when applying to NSERC
- Learn a lot about the inner workings of the biology department and how decisions get made about things like scholarships
- Meet other grad students who you wouldn't otherwise meet
- Gain experience managing some aspect of a functioning student society (such as large project management, minute-taking, meeting procedures, etc.)  I can honestly say that I've picked up transferrable skills working with this group.

You can nominate people (or yourself) until Tuesday April 12.  Send me all nominations.

Campaigning (for contested positions) will happen from April 13 to April 19

The election itself will take place Wednesday April 20.  Only people present at the meeting can vote.

One-year positions (May 1 2011 to April 30 2012)

1. Chair

- General leadership role in the caucus
- Organize and call meetings (and associated responsibilities like forming the agenda and such)
- Chairs the meetings, keeping them on topic and on time
- Doesn't get to vote on motions, but if it's a tie you get to cast a tie-breaker
- High-level organization of the caucus (e.g. forming long-term plans, ensuring people are responsible for tasks within the group)
- Represents the caucus to the greater campus community.  If the caucus were ever to receive a large novelty cheque, this would be the person that poses for the picture.

- Runs the elections

2. Associate chair

- Same responsibilities as chair, but the buck doesn't stop with you, so it may be slightly less intimidating
- Also doesn't get to vote, except if there's a tie

3. Secretary

- Take minutes at meetings
- Ensure that meetings are sent to the Graduate Student Society after each caucus meeting

4. Treasurer

- Handle caucus finances
- Responsible for keeping track of our caucus accounts and

5. Webmaster

- Maintain the caucus website and keep it up to date

6.  Member at Large

-  Attends caucus meetings and is available to help with miscillaneous tasks

7.  Events Committee Officer (up to 3)

- Each officer will probably organize and run no more than one event
- We didn't have one of these this year, and it was a shame.  This year's grad caucus ran many events, but the organizers of the events were not event committee officers.  This means that they had all the responsibility of organizing events but didn't get to put on their CV that they held an executive position. 

8.  Faculty Mole

- Attends faculty meetings and reports to the caucus about what happened

9.  Graduate Student Society council representative

- This is a special position where you go to GSS meetings and represent the biology caucus (sort of like an MP in the Canadian Parliament)
- In this position you get to vote on GSS issues that affect all graduate students
- There is a stipend for attending GSS meetings as the GSS rep.

10.  Alternate GSS council representative

- Very low time commitment - you only go to GSS council meetings if the main council rep is unable to attend.

11.  Teaching Support Staff Union Steward

- Represents biology grad students to the TSSU, attends TSSU meetings.

12.  International student representative

- Represents the international student community at caucus meetings.

Two-year positions (May 1 2011 to April 30 2013)

1.  Departmental Scholarship Committee representative

- Serves as the students' link to the DSC
- Evaluates scholarship applications of fellow students
- Acts as the primary source of information for biology grad students regarding how the DSC functions.

2.  Departmental Graduate Studies Committee representative

- Attends DGSC meetings
- Serves as a liason between grad students and the DGSC, updates the caucus on the DGSC goings-on

Hope to see the nominations rolling in soon!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brett Favaro, caucus chair